Eri had been minding her own business when Woo Ahn he stepped into her peripheral. She had asked who he was when he had come to the hospital after the baby was born, and Woo Bin had been completely honest. He had told her everything that had happened in the past and what it all had meant to him. He explained that something was wrong with his brother but he had refused to seek help.
She was all too aware with mental illness. Georges had been the same. When he had been sentenced, his lawyer had gotten him a lesser one by claiming insanity due to brainwashing. The French courts had asked if she wanted to pursue anything more since she had been the victim. She had looked at the man and said as long as he sought treatment she wouldn't do anything further. She had spared him the agony of jail, instead sending him to a mental institution for five years along with twelve years probation.
Bo Na, her ever present nurse, had been nervous when he showed up so stealthily. She had looked at Eri then shuffled to check on a patient to their left. Eri had stood up and rounded the desk.
"What do you want?" she asked. When she shut off her emotions, she became like ice. Nothing entered and nothing exited. She was how she had been a year ago.
"I came to see my nephew," he replied.
"You know full and well that Woo Bin doesn't want you anywhere near us."
A dangerous light appeared in his eyes when she said that. "So he's told you everything I see. You really shouldn't let that cloud your judgment of your brother-in-law."
"The only brothers I have are Francesco, Yoon Ji Hoo, So Yi Jeong and Goo Jun Pyo. Last time I checked you weren't included in that. I suggest you leave before I call security and have you escorted out."
They stared at each other for the longest moment, Eri's icy gaze meeting the dead one of Woo Ahn. She watched his body language. The hostility oozed off him. He was angry but she couldn't figure at whom. Was he angry at his parents for disowning him, angry at Woo Bin for having a family, or angry at himself for getting caught? She watched him clench and unclench his fist in rapid succession. He was capable of violence, just like Woo Bin. Where the younger Song brother was able to pull his punches, she was certain the older one wasn't that adept, and that made him dangerous.
The elevator dinged and the doors rambled open. To her right she saw Ga Eul step out and stop. Yi Jeong had obviously advised her about Woo Ahn since he had called the night before to tell them Woo Bin's brother had stopped by his place. She stayed where she was, wisely opting not to approach the hostile situation. Eri being a doctor had drugs on hand to take out any hostile person. She had done it to Georges a year ago and wasn't afraid to do it again. She and Bo Na kept sedatives at the ready just for those times.
"Shall I call for security?" Bo Na asked.
Eri shook her head. "I don't think that will be necessary. He won't want to cause a scene. It goes against his style. Isn't that right?"
Woo Ahn clenched his jaw so tightly white lines appeared around his mouth. She had guessed right. Since he had grown up as a member of Seoul's elite, he was accustomed to doing things with style and flair. Causing a scene wasn't his style so going after them where CCTV cameras would catch him was out of the picture. He would think up of something even more creative. This man was intelligent and would use those smarts to try to outwit them.
Huffing in anger, he turned and walked away. He stopped momentarily to look at Ga Eul. Taking a cue from her friend, she didn't back down, staring him in the face until he turned away first. He was used to dominance plays. If they could cause him to turn away first, he would have lost that dominance battle. As they planned, he turned away with a tsk and walked down the stairs.
"Ga Eul." She cringed at Eri's voice. It was iced over, as if she had trekked to a glacier and had her voice frozen there. Cautiously she walked over. "Bo Na, call Woo Bin and Yi Jeong. This situation is too dangerous for us to go out alone. I'm certain he knows the areas where the CCTVs don't cover. If we go out alone, he'll attack us."
Ga Eul realized she was using past experience to make her hypothesis. Eri had been attacked in an area where the CCTVs hadn't covered. It could have been worse than a cut face, bruised ribs and bruising if Woo Bin hadn't been walking by at the time. Since then she had been escorted to and from work by someone. Usually it was Ji Hoo considering they worked at the same hospital, but since he was on vacation, it was Woo Bin.
Bo Na called immediately and Ga Eul wasn't surprised that the men's phone numbers were on her speed dial. She sat down behind the desk and handed out the food she had bought. She gave her muffin to Bo Na because she was a little too shaken up to eat. But the other two women were used to stressful situations and inhaled their muffins.
It took some time for the men to get across town, but they were breathless as they ran onto the pediatric floor. By that time the women had calmed down and were talking easily about their plans for the rest of the weekend since both Bo Na and Eri were off on Sunday.
Yi Jeong and Woo Bin looked at each other as they held their girlfriends close. They hadn't expected Woo Ahn to be so forward right out of the gate. They had thought he would take his time in scoping the area, but then again they hadn't figured in Eri's pension for taking challenges head on. If she had angered Woo Ahn, which wasn't out of the question, she was going to be an even bigger target.
"What happened?" Woo Bin asked. "How did he find where you worked?"
"I was hospitalized here. He would put two and two together eventually," Eri said. "He tried to see Bin Ji but I blocked him as Bo Na went into his room. I'm not sure if he picked that up."
"He may have. Let's not underestimate him," Yi Jeong said. "Woo Bin, this is way too dangerous. I don't think we should be separated at this time. But the only house that is big enough to hold all of us it Jun Pyo's and he's gone for three more days. We can't wait that long."
"I'll call him." Woo Bin stepped away as he pulled out his phone.
Ga Eul touched Eri's hand. "Are you okay?"
She looked at her. "Something feels off but I can't figure out what it is."
"Trust those instincts," Yi Jeong nurtured. "You've done it so far and have come a long way since we first met you. Out of all of us, your instincts are truer to your nature."
Woo Bin returned a few seconds later. "Jun Pyo is flying home now. He said we could go ahead and move into his place. Ji Hoo said he and Kyu Lee will meet us there. When is Bin Ji able to be discharged?"
Bo Na looked at the charts since she was in charge of the baby's care. "His fever broke early this morning and he has taken a couple of bottles since then. I say after he poops, he can go."
"Give him a couple of hours," Eri muttered.
That broke the icy situation. Everyone laughed about the baby's ability to meet the worst standards. Eri went back to work, finishing up her rounds which took a couple of hours at least. Bin Ji started crying, and without permission, Woo Bin immediately went to get him. He was very cautious of his son as he adjusted the IV line in his tiny hand. But Bin Ji immediately quieted and went back to sleep.
"He's so much bigger than when we first saw him," Ga Eul mused.
"He's been eating better at home than when he was here. He likes being with his parents in a warm home than in a cold hospital," Yi Jeong answered.
They sat with Bo Na until Eri was finished. Bo Na processed the baby's release papers and the family was able to head home. Yi Jeong opened the passenger door for Ga Eul as Woo Bin saw his family into the backseat of a taxi. The yellow car followed the cab to Eri's building and they parked in the street. They all went upstairs to help pack what they would need when they stayed at Jun Pyo's.
The things a baby needed were more than what the parents needed. Bottles, formula, clothes, diapers, wipes, blankets, bibs, and many other things went into the diaper bag and what was left went into another bag. Woo Bin and Eri only had a couple of bags apiece while Bin Ji had three.
Woo Bin said he'd return later to get his car and took the taxi once again to Jun Pyo's. They wanted to get the baby settled before anyone did anything else. Yi Jeong had to return to his studio to put away the supplies he'd left sitting out and lock up so he said he'd swing by and pack clothes for him and Ga Eul. He didn't want her to go with him because he wasn't sure he would be able to protect her if Woo Ahn suddenly appeared.
Ga Eul sat with Eri in the guest room she and Woo Bin had been given. It was the biggest guest room they had. Jun Pyo had obviously called ahead because a crib and changing table had been moved into the room.
"What was going through your mind as you spoke to Woo Ahn?" she asked
Eri looked up at her. "I thought he was going to lash out, but his strength isn't in forward attacks. He lives for the hunt and art of surprise. He'll come at you when you least expect it. He lacks the skill to ask for what he wants so he just takes it."
"Are we really safe here?"
"I'm not sure. You know more about this side of the world than I do. I never had anyone try to take anything from me when I was growing up. Everyone thought I was too dumb to understand so they left me alone. Only when I came here did I understand that people were jealous and would do anything to get what they wanted. I don't get involved out of principle."
"But taking a backseat is just going to get us in trouble."
"Ga Eul, we're both new to this world. I grew up in it but was kept at an arm's distance because no one thought I would make it. You were normal and didn't have to worry about people getting revenge on you. It's not in me to back down from a fight, but I finally have a family who loves me enough to look after me. I want to protect that so if taking a backseat for the time being to assess the situation is what it takes that's what I'll do."
For someone who was so quiet you could hear a pin drop, Eri was very impactful with her words. She didn't speak often, so when she did they tended to listen. Looking down at that sleeping baby, Ga Eul realized where her strength came from. She had chosen them as family and family protected each other.
But something in Ga Eul wanted to reach out and touch Woo Ahn. She wanted to know what he was feeling and why he was behaving as he was. Was there more to the story than anyone had told? Or was he as cold hearted and calculating as they had told her? Something didn't add up and she wanted to get down to the bottom of it. But Woo Bin and the rest of F4 were going to hold her back. The only person she could trust was sitting right in front of her.
Eri would be the only person she could talk to if she continued thinking these thoughts. Eri would understand wanting to understand how a person was feeling. She was still in the process of understanding emotions so if Ga Eul started to understand what made Woo Ahn tick, Eri would naturally fall in line with her. But she had to get her attention before she could do anything and that was going to be the hard part. It took a lot to change her mind when she already had formed a notion about someone or something.
But Eri wasn't dumb nor was she blind. "Whatever you decide to do, you can always talk to me about it even if I don't like it."
Ga Eul realized she had been watching her the entire time. Not much passed the stoic gaze when she focused. She realized that she had an ally in all of this. Now she just had to figure out how to approach Woo Ahn.